NFSO begins next 25 years with super birthday concert

Thursday

Sep 27, 2012 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2012 at 9:58 AM

BRENDA SHOFFNER / Daily News

The Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra celebrated its 25th anniversary in style last Saturday night with a wonderful concert filled with nice surprises. To provide some perspective, I have heard the NFSO in all of its iterations — not necessarily as entertainment editor because it predates my being in this role, but at least as a musiclover: First, as directed by founding conductor John Leatherwood, with performances in the “gymatorium.” Leatherwood made a guest appearance at the concert. He began the festivities by leading the orchestra in Aaron Copland’s “Happy Anniversary,” which sounds remarkably like “Happy Birthday.” He also helped current NFSO conductor Jeffrey Rink blow out two giant candles behind the numbers “2” and “5” situated atop a bass. Second, as directed by David Ott, who took over as NFSO conductor in 1999. Third, as directed by Demetrius Fuller, who became conductor in 2002. Next, as directed by Lois Van Dam, who led the orchestra in 2006. And, finally, as directed by Rink, who took the baton in 2007 and will lead the orchestra through an entire season devoted to celebrating its longevity. Another of the nice surprises was the world premiere of a special piece of music composed for the NFSO by the college’s own Jeremy Ribando. “iFlight” is a burst of musical energy about four minutes long described as “A Birthday Overture” in the program. I loved it as much for itself as for the thoughts of two other musical pieces that it evoked, both by the great John Williams and both from movies — “Out to Sea” from the “Jaws” soundtrack and the music that accompanies the flying bicycle scene in “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.” Williams, by the way, won Oscars for both scores. It’s easy to imagine an Oscar in Ribando’s future. “Death and Transfiguration” by Richard Strauss received a mix reaction from the people sitting nearest to me. I thought the performance, which tells the story of an old man succumbing to an irregular heartbeat one evening while he’s reading, was dynamic and impressive. The extensive explanatory information before the piece began, however, seemed to be the source of one concertgoer’s distress with the music, which she said made her heart feel as if it were going to burst out of her chest. “I could have done without that,” she said at intermission. After intermission, however, guest pianist Yue Chu dazzled the audience with his performance of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor Op. 30. He was out-of-this-world amazing and earned a standing ovation from the audience, whom I think were hoping for an encore. All in all it was a fantastic concert that I think many football fans unfortunately missed. Here’s hoping the next concert isn’t competing with another big game. Also, someone’s cell phone went off during the concert and rang for what sounded like forever but probably was closer to 30-45 seconds at the beginning of “iFlight.” For heaven’s sake, if you can’t trust yourself to remember to turn it off or to vibrate, leave it in your car. And, finally, I know sometimes you can’t help yourself when the performance is amazing, but, technically, you’re not supposed to applaud between movements of a piece. After the audience erupted into spontaneous applause at the end of the Allegro ma non troppo movement of the piano concerto, Rink and Yue barely paused between the second and third movements to prevent a similar disruption. It was an effective tactic. Congratulations and happy birthday, NFSO!